Panasonic Viera TH-50PX80U 50-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

After researching digital TV's for a little over a month, I narrowed it down to Samsung LCD and Panasonic Plasma. Two things made me choose the Panasonic TH-50PX80U, better sound and price. I thought the pictures were comparable, although the viewing angles on the plasma set are much better. The set does experience some reflection, but not enough to disturb me. I am using an external antenna(no cable or satellite)and the HD picture is astounding(actually canceled cable). A little searching on the web can get you this set at 20% off including white glove delivery. In my opinion, it's the best 50" value on the market.

I did lots of research and found that the 1080P version is a waste of an extra 450 bucks. All programming in HD is 720p at the highest. This tv has an incredible picture and its big too. This is the best tv I'd ever had and I watch a lot of tv. The HD on this set makes things look better than in real life. The food network in HD makes me drool. If you buy this set you won't be sorry. Might as well get a good tv since it too expensive to drive anywhere these days. Don't forget the 100 hour break in period. Amazon had the best price I found and shipping was free and good.

Update: Plus I just checked today and its 110 bucks cheaper within the 30 days I purchased it. So a quick call to customer service and price protection credited my card the difference. It keeps getting better.

Great delivery, easy set up, great picture and sound. I need digital DTV, but I've been too busy to look into it.

This is my first HD TV purchase ever, so I made sure to do my homework. I spent days researching brands, plasmas v. LCDs, 720p v. 1080p resolutions, and 42" v. 50" screens. Friends and family kept telling me, "Get a LCD. Get a 1080p."

The fact is after combing through review after review from consumers and professional critics alike, it became evident that Panasonic is leading the way with plasma technology, and the years-old issues with these TVs (burn-in, heat, glare) are all but resolved. In fact, plasmas offer smoother motion, deeper blacks and wider viewing angles than their LCD rivals.

Screen size and resolution, I found, go hand-in-hand. The rule of thumb: 50" or less in screen size is not worth the extra $$ for 1080p. The increase in resolution only really becomes appreciable with screen sizes over 50". Too, one can only truly take advantage of 1080p with a Blu-ray DVD player. HD channels are sent at lower resolutions, though obviously much better than standard 480i.

Armed with this knowledge, I set out to find the best 50" plasma 720p I could find that fit within my budget. Sony and Pioneer were out. The next tier included Samsung, Toshiba, and Panasonic. The latter won hands down.

Whether I am watching DirectTV HD or my standard DVD player, the picture quality is nothing short of amazing. I love the anti-reflective coating on the screen; works beautifully in our well-lit room and does not mute the colors. It took a minute for my two year-old to get over Scooby-Doo outsizing him, but he's hooked now.

The one minor complaint I see in other reviews is bass distortion with the speakers. I do not use the "bass boost" function and have not noticed anything but clean sound. In fact, speech, music, and effects sound quite good and balanced. Most will use surround sound for movies anyway, I suspect. The only thing that peeves me is the digital audio out. It only supports 2 channel stereo to a receiver.

In closing, I believe this is the best value you will find for a top quality product in this category. Get one, and you won't just watch TV, you'll experience it.

The picture is great, just as good as other plasmas costing twice the money (or LCDs for that matter) that I considered before buying this set. I was a little hesitant about purchasing this online and trusting the thing to arrive in one piece, but the delivery folks were extremely professional. They called ahead and made arrangements with me a few days prior to the TV arriving. Trust me, as anyone who lives in a rural area will attest to, this isn't always the case. I'm extremely pleased with both the product and the service. One thing to be aware of... I purchased the TV through Amazon even though the price was a little higher (not much considering the free shipping) rather then one of the other 3rd party merchants that sell through Amazon for one reason, the return policy. If you read the fine print, many of these companies offer only manufacturer warranties on returns, meaning if something is wrong you have to go through Panasonic for service. They offer no assistance themselves. Good luck with that. Amazon actually has a full 30 day return policy, if you don't like the set just return it in the original box with-in a month for a full refund. I'll pay a few more dollars on an online purchase for that piece of mind. Also as others have pointed out, keep an eye on the advertised price for a month. The week after I purchased it the Amazon advertised price dropped $90.00 which they refunded once I contacted them. Another reason to stick with Amazon.